Save one person, save the world: Nicholas Winton and the Czech Kindertransport

Book recommended for 2nd grade to 6th grade.Lesson recommended for 5th grade through 8th grade.Three 50-min lessons.Set in 1938, Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport, a picture book, tells the true story of Jewish children being separated from their loving families following Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. Using Kindertransport and traveling by train and boat, children were sent to England for safety. Foster families cared for the children, but they deeply missed their families and culture. When they were older, after the war, some of the children returned home to search for their parents and realized no one had saved them. Fifty years later, they met the man who had organized the Czech Kindertransport, thereby saving their lives, Sir Nicholas Winton. Winton saved 669 children through Kindertransport. The book includes a timeline for reference on Kindertransport movement.This lesson addresses the NCSS themes of Individual Development and Identity (4); Individuals, Groups and Institutions (5), and Power, Authority and Governance (6). As Hitler and the Nazis expanded their authority and power, individuals and groups responded to protect Prague’s children. The actions of Czechoslovakian citizens and parents, along with those of English organizers, demonstrate the importance of civic ideals and practices (10).This lesson is best taught after covering the early events of Second World War. Students should have background knowledge on the rise of Hitler, the policy of appeasement, Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass), the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the Holocaust to fully grasp the historical context of Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport.The northwestern end of Czechoslovakia was known as the Sudetenland, an area with a large population of individuals of German heritage. Hitler’s goal was to annex areas with large German populations, and Sudetenland became one of his targets. Attacks driven by prejudice against Jewish people occurred here just as they did in Germany. Following the Kristallnacht attacks of November 1938 that destroyed Jewish businesses and synagogues in Germany, Austria, East Prussia and the Sudetenland (see map of destroyed synagogues at https://www.nationalww2museum.org/sites/default/files/2023-12/BodyImage%233MapofKristallnacht.gif), Jewish refugees fled to Prague, among other cities.This lesson investigates the evacuations of Jewish children known as Kindertransports. Through the work of volunteers, over 10,000 Jewish children were transported to Britain between 1938 and 1940. This lesson concerns the work of Nicholas Winton in Prague. Winton and those helping him saved 669 children just before Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. While this is a 3-day lesson about Czech children who participated in Kindertransport and its impact, their stories are relevant to people across Europe during Second World War and at other times. In addition, increasing levels of antisemitism in the United States (Anti-Defamation League, 2025) make teaching about the Holocaust essential to equipping students for civic engagement (Bowen and Kisida, 2019). For more information, see https://www.nicholaswinton.com/.References to “children” in the lesson plan refer to the children on Kindertransport. “Students” refers to the students in the classroom.The compelling question will be presented within the context of the Holocaust, and more specifically, within the actions of Sir Nicholas Winton. “Save one life, save the world,” words taken from the Jewish Talmud, are inscribed within a golden ring on the end pages of the picture book, Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport. This golden ring was given to Winton, a hero in Stars of the Night, by some of the children he saved (Sir Nicholas Winton Memorial Trust, n.d.-a, n.d.-b, n.d.-c).Prior to Lesson One, display the compelling question for students and read it aloud. Inform students that the phrase “save one life, save the world” comes from the Jewish religious text, the Talmud. Ask students to reflect on what this line might mean. Use the Think-Pair-Share active learning technique (Read Write Think, n.d.) so students can think individually about the prompt, then discuss their ideas with a partner and lastly share some of their thinking with the larger class.To reinforce the compelling question throughout the multi-lesson unit, we recommend briefly revisiting the question at the end of each lesson. Ask students to consider whether or how their thinking about this line has shifted. At the conclusion of this unit, students will be asked to reflect more deeply on the line and the compelling question and write a reasoned argument in response.Supporting question: What happened in Prague, Czechoslovakia just before Second World War began and why?Estimated time to complete: 50–60 min.Objective: Students will be able to explain what Kindertransport was and why it was necessary by creating an annotated timeline connecting the book to historical events and primary sourcesAssessment method: Using chart paper and markers, create an annotated timeline that connects the book to historic events and primary sources.Supporting question: What was Kindertransport like for the children and families?Estimated time to complete: 50–60 min.Objective: Students will be able to compare and contrast the experiences various individuals and groups had with Kindertransport by class discussion of children’s and families’ personal accounts.Assessment method: Use the Head, Heart and Conscience teaching strategy to help individual students or pairs reflect on the experiences of children and families.Supporting question: What were the short and long-term impacts of Kindertransport?Estimated time to complete: 50–60 min.Objective: Students will be able to evaluate the impacts of participating in Kindertransport by completing a cause-and-effect flow chart.Assessment method: Students will complete a cause-and-effect flow chart outlining the impacts of the invasion and Kindertransport.Winton used Kindertransport to help save a total of 669 children, resulting in approximately 6,000 family members surviving today.Open the book to the dedication page. Point out the dedication and the picture of a gold ring. The survivors gave Winton a gold ring with “save one life, save the world” engraved inside it. Using at least 3 primary or secondary sources from the three lessons, students create an evidence-based response to the question, “Does saving one life save the world?” Instruct the students to use the Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) model to organize their responses. Possible argument stems to help students begin their responses might be:An image of the actual ring is at https://www.nicholaswinton.com/exhibition/recognition-1988. The caption beside the ring explains the origin of the engraving:Make connections to present-day immigration and current events.Use We Had to Be Brave: Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport (Hopkins, 2022) as a companion book.Visit the Kindertransport Association website, which features a collection of memory quilts created by survivors of the Kindertransport (see https://kindertransport.org/history/memory-quilts/). Each square includes a 1–2 min audio description of the reasoning behind each design. Students could investigate individual squares and then participate in a discussion about the commonalities and differences between them.